Backstage Design Studio

09/05/2024

The Baker Hotel vinyl is a must-have for any William Clark Green fan, with its unique and creative packaging that adds to the overall experience of listening to the music. The custom clear smokey green vinyl is a beautiful addition to any collection, and the spooky illustrations really bring the Baker Hotel story to life. And who doesn't love a fun board game to go along with it? It's the perfect package for any music lover looking for something a little extra special. We had a blast working on this project with William Clark Green, and we hope fans enjoy it just as much as we do!

06/01/2022

Shauna’s thrilled to continue her journey at the as a newly elected Governor of the Texas Chapter Board and looks forward to joining a diverse group of leaders in serving and advocating for our greater music community.

To learn more about becoming a member, visit RecordingAcademy.com/Join

03/30/2022

Just four more days…

12/11/2021

The artwork for the American Jackpot side was a bit more straightforward. To convert the photo to the iconic “baddie” propaganda poster artwork style, we simply stripped the color, ramped up the contrast, faded the shadows, added a screen printed distress, vintage discoloration and foreboding red smoke… and as Slick McCheese would say, “walla!”

12/10/2021

Evolution of an album cover. From the very beginning, we felt that the Statue of Liberty surely had to play a part in the cover artwork for American Jackpot. But when W***y shared the title for the second half of the project, American Girls, we knew that there could be no other direction to take it. Lady Liberty is, after all, the ultimate American Girl. How did we translate that into classic WWII era propaganda poster artwork? Well, both album covers started with the same photo, and for American Girls, she’s entirely digitally hand-painted. This Timelapse is an overly-simplified rendition of that process…. Covering hundreds of hours in under 30 seconds.

12/09/2021

You’re not likely to come across two women so persistent as the Dodds sisters on a mission to accomplish the impossible. Here’s a partial stack of the whiteboards we constructed in the pursuit of perfecting the magic wallet created exclusively for American Jackpot / American Girls.

11/24/2021

Yesterday was a really good day, and we’re still trying to catch our breath. This artwork represents almost a year of conceptualization and another of ex*****on - countless hours of construction and scrutinizing over millimeters and half-millimeters and the difference between the bend of coated vs uncoated stocks - stacks upon tumbling stacks of mock-ups and endless hours of mind-numbing paper cutting and folding - miles of double-sided tape and gallons of eye drops…. And that was just to get the template for the custom magic CD wallet to work (psst… it opens from both sides). We were told it was impossible (repeatedly). We never liked that word….

Ladies and gentlemen, for your consideration, 2022 Nominee for Best Recording Package, Reckless Kelly American Jackpot / American Girls.

Stay tuned for more inside looks at the artwork.

11/24/2021

How about some good news, for a change? Because this morning’s news hit us straight in the feels. Last year, as the world was shutting down and losing its ever-loving mind, we were months into the most complex packaging design we’ve ever dreamed up… and God knows we’ve dreamed up some doozies. But this one almost broke us. Two albums worth of music, two sets of different yet complimentary artwork, 20 illustrations for 20 tracks and a magic trick of a cd wallet that’s never been done before, to boot. Ladies and gents, for your consideration, 2022 Nominee for Best Recording Package, Reckless Kelly’s American Jackpot / American Girls.

Follow us here, or visit our website for more details and inside looks at the artwork… coming soon.

2022 Grammy Nominee for Best Recording Package, from Art Directors Shauna and Sarah Dodds at Backstage Design Studio in Buda, Texas.The artwork is encased in...